The raids and arrests were made by the Mahrashtra police, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence which took in January, in which Dalit activists had clashed with upper-caste people.
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The arrests of five human right activists from different parts of the country today evoked condemnation from different quarters. Congress president Rahul Gandhi reacted via tweet. He said: ” there is only place for one NGO in India and it’s called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain“.
At least nine activists were searched and five of them arrested today over allegations of Maoist links after countrywide raids.
Condemning arrests of various activists and journalists such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, the CPI-M on Tuesday alleged that the police have been targeting Dalit rights activists and intellectuals after Bhima Koregaon riots.
“The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) strongly protests the raids conducted by police authorities on the homes of various civil rights and human rights activists and Left intellectuals,” the party said in a statement.
Noted author and historian Ramachandra Guha today slammed the government conducting countrywide raids and arrest of human right activists. He termed the act as “brutal, authoritarian, oppressive, arbitrary. illegal act” by the Maharashtra police.
There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain.
Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 28, 2018
As a biographer of Gandhi, I have no doubt that if the Mahatma was alive today, he would don his lawyer's robes and defend Sudha Bharadwaj in court; that is assuming the Modi Sarkar hadn't yet detained and arrested him too
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 28, 2018
What is happening is absolutely perilous, said author and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy after the raids, which were carried out as part of a probe into the violence at Maharashtra’s Koregaon-Bhima village, triggered by ‘Elgaar Parishad’ event in Pune on December 31 last year.
Other activists and social workers expressed shock over the raids on the homes of intellectuals and activists critical of the BJP.
They called it an attempt to strike terror among those fighting for justice for the marginalised.
The signatories to the joint statement included Admiral (retd) L. Ramdas, former bureaucrat Harsh Mander, former JNU student activist Shehla Rashid Shora, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and rights activists Teesta Setalvad and Swami Agnivesh.
Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) President Prakash Ambedkar called it an attempt by the government to “silence the masses” in the wake of the recent crackdown on the Hindu rightwing group Sanatan Sanstha.
“But now NGOs which are non-political will become more active and aggressive than they were earlier in opposing this (BJP) government in order to safeguard democracy and human rights,” warned Ambedkar, the grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.
News reports are coming in of a police crackdown on advocates and rights activists across the country. pic.twitter.com/n3MZ4gIVLH
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) August 28, 2018
Among the angles being probed after Tuesday’s crackdown are the modus operandi of the activists, their sources of finance and modes of funding of their activities, their suspected connections with like-minded groups and related issues, officials indicated.
At least nine activists were searched and five of them arrested today over allegations of Maoist links after countrywide raids . The raids and arrests were done by the Pune police, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, in which Dalit activists had clashed with upper-caste Marathas. Those arrested include Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, and activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves. The raids were carried out in Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad.